Day 97: Islas Galapagos. Santa Cruz.

May 15, 2006

On Monday morning the town looked completely different. The streets were
full of people; all the cafes, restaurants, dive shops and travel agencies
were open for business and busy attracting customers - quite a change from
yesterday afternoon, when it looked like we were the only living souls in
town!

The people of Santa Cruz fall under two categories: the ones who live and
work there and the tourists, the latter forming the greatest majority. The
tourists can be further subdivided into those who have just gotten back from
a successful cruise (happy ),
those who have come back from a bad cruise (grumpy ),
and those who are still shopping for a cruise (anxious ).
We could think of more categories, but the bottom line is the same anyway
- the strongest emotions on the Galapagos circle around the cruise ships!
We spent the biggest part of the day just gathering information on the must-see
sites of the archipelago and came to the conclusion that the best (if not
the only) way to see the famed wildlife means taking a boat trip. In fact,
the more people we talked to, the more obvious it became that the island cruise
was the main reason why most of the tourists came to the islands.

Even though you officially enter the National Park territory right upon the
arrival on Baltra or San Cristobal (the other airport is located there), you
get to see only a tiny fraction of the unique Galapagos nature if you spend
all the time on these islands. There are water taxis which provide connection
among Isla Santa Cruz, Isla Isabela and Isla San Cristobal (USD30 each way),
but only a cruise ship can take you to the more remote islands, inhabited
by the famous Galapagos wildlife.

Cruise prices range from USD400 for a 4-day tour on a slow boat (the kind
of cruise you return grumpy from) up to USD2500 for a floating Sheraton experience.
Luckily, there are plenty of options in between to keep you busy shopping
till your head starts spinning from the incredible abundance of travel agencies,
boats and itineraries, and you get hit by a sudden sense of urgency when those
last two available spaces on the cruise ship you fancied the most are gone
when you come back for them just half an hour later!! Hence, all the commotion
:)

Fortunately, we came to the islands in low season (although, according to
the locals, this was one of the busiest low seasons ever), so we managed to
find a reasonably priced week-long boat tour fairly quickly. We booked a 7-day
cruise on Free Enterprise for USD700 per person. As we later found out from
our cruisemates, the price of the same tour ranged from USD700 to USD1000,
depending on the tour agency.

Tip #1 The best cruise deals can be found on the islands: in Puerto
Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz or in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on Isla San Cristobal.
Arranging trips in Quito or Guayaquil will most likely cost you USD200-300
more for the same deal. We were offered a week-long tour for USD980 in Guayaquil,
and then found the identical deal for USD700 in Puerto Ayora. The only problem
with making arrangements on site is that all the reasonably priced cruises
can be fully booked (even in low season) and you may have to wait for a week
or two. We waited for 9 days for ours.

Tip #3 Most travel agencies are booking the same boats, so it is the
cruise ship that you are actually choosing, and not the tour agency. There
are plenty of web sites where travelers post their Galapagos cruise experiences.
Just run an Internet search and see how others rate the ship you are about
to book.

Tip #4 When choosing a cruise, review the itinerary very carefully.
Tour operators will for sure try to dress it up, so remember that:

The first day of the cruise is diminutive. It starts from meeting your
tour guide quite early in the morning, but then all the delays come up:
first you have to wait for all the passengers to arrive (some of them arrive
on the plane from Ecuador only around noon), then the whole group boards
the ship where lunch is served, which is followed by a briefing, then there
is a lengthy stop for supplies By the time you finally start sailing,
it is almost time for dinner.

The last day is even shorter. In fact, it is just several hours that you
spend on the boat: you wake up very early in the morning, quickly visit
the last island, get breakfast while the ship is sailing back to Isla Baltra,
and get off the boat early enough to make it to the morning flight to Quito
or Guayaquil.

Most of the itineraries include one day on Santa Cruz, which consists
of a visit to Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora and a bus
trip to the Highlands. Both sites are very interesting, but if you had stayed
on Santa Cruz while waiting for the cruise, you would most likely have already
visited both of them.

Other places, which tend to appear on many itineraries, but should be
avoided because they can be easily be visited on your own time are Cerro
Tijeretas (Frigatebird Hill) and snorkeling with sea lions at Las Tijeretas
on Isla San Cristobal, and Volcan Sierra Negra and the Wall of Tears on
Isla Isabela.

Thus, imagine ending up with a 4-day/ USD400 cruise, two days of which are
ridiculously short, and on the third one you are taken to the places you have
already seen These are the kind of cruises you certainly want to avoid!

Tip #5 As always, you get what you pay for. Economy class cruises
are the cheapest, but it is a good idea to invest some extra dollars and go
for at least Tourist class. Better yet, Tourist Superior. These are more reliable
ships that are less likely to cut the tour short due to engine failures, they
sail faster and will take you to more remote islands, the cabins are nicer,
the food is better, the guides are more knowledgeable (very important!), and
there is hot water, which is an irreplaceable thing after several hours of
snorkeling.... But if you overspend, you may end up on a huge luxury liner
with 200 passengers of respectful age, who are not likely to party every night
:)